Hormizd III

Hormizd III
"King of kings of Iran and Aniran"
Reign	457–459
Predecessor	Yazdegerd II
Successor	Peroz I
Born	Unknown
Died	Possibly in 459, may have been spared by Peroz I
House	House of Sasan
Father	Yazdegerd II
Mother	Dinak
Religion	Zoroastrianism

Hormizd III (Persian: هرمز سوم‎‎), was the seventeenth king of the Sasanian Empire. He was the son and successor of Yazdegerd II (438–457).^[1]

Biography

In 457, Yazdegerd II died. Hormizd, the older son of Yazdegerd II,^[2] was kept near Ctesiphon, while his younger brother, Peroz, was stationed in Sistan.^[3] Following his father's death, Hormizd became ruler of the Sassanian Empire. In response, Peroz sought the aid of the Hephthalite monarch, Khushnavaz in Bactria. The Hephthalites aided Peroz, who defeated Hormizd^[4] and by 459 controlled Ctesiphon making him ruler of the Sassanian Empire.^[5]

Sources differ as to what happened to Hormizd after his capture. Some say that he was put to death in 459.^[6] However, the Persian historian Mirkhond says that Peroz pardoned his eldest brother and amicably spared his life.

Hormizd III had a daughter named Balendukht, who was the wife of Vakhtang I, the ruler of Iberia. She bore the latter a son named Dachi.

References

1. Meir Holder, History of the Jewish People, (Mesorah Publications Ltd, 2004), 205.
2. Elizabeth Errington, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Joe Cribb, From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, (British Museum Press, 2011), 79.
3. Jacob Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia:Later Sasanian Times, Vol. V, (Brill, 1970), 40.
4. Touraj Daryaee, Sasanian Persia:The Rise and Fall of an Empire, (I.B.Tauris, 2010), 24.
5. Jacob Neusner, 40.
6. Parvaneh Pourshariati, Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire:The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran, (I.B.Tauris, 2011), 71.

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Wigram, W. A. (2004). An introduction to the history of the Assyrian Church, or, The Church of the Sassanid Persian Empire, 100–640 A.D. Gorgias Press. ISBN 1-59333-103-7.
• Pourshariati, Parvaneh (2008). Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian-Parthian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran. London and New York: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-645-3.